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1
Cassie
A heavyset security guard with a steaming styrofoam cup waves me through the metal detector.
“Love is in the air, hmm?” he says, eyeing the dozens of roses, along with enough ivy and leatherleaf fern to reach to the moon and back, in tall, white buckets on my flatbed cart.
I shoot him a weak smile. Love is the last thing on my mind.
It’s five o’clock in the morning on February 13th. And I’m a florist. Well, technically I’m a senior floral designer for White Glove Florist, New York City’s premiere luxury floral boutique, but usually, I just say florist.
“You could say that.”
I maneuver my cart through the dock toward the freight elevator, press the button for the first floor, and wince. The skin on my fingers is red and raw from stripping thousands of rose stems and arranging hundreds of perfect bouquets over the past few days and we’re still far from being ready for tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day wedding reception for five hundred in The Grand Ballroom at The Plaza.
The elevator doors slide open and Mindy, my usually cool, calm, and collected delivery contact, greets me with an animated smile.
“Cassie, oh good. You’re here.”
My Spidey-sense is immediately on alert. Mindy is the lead set designer forRise and Shine, the number one rated national television morning show in the country, and a regular customer.
Another woman, with a headset and clipboard, steps up beside Mindy and presses her lips together as she looks me over from head to toe. Then, out of nowhere, shoots me a dazzling smile.
Something is definitely up.
“She’ll do, won’t she?” Mindy asks, eyeing me in a way that makes me want to duck out of sight ASAP.
“Oh yes, she’ll do,” the woman says with a nod.
She’ll do?
“A little hair and makeup, and, of course, wardrobe, and she’ll be good to go,” the woman adds, as if I’m not standing right in front of her in my work shirt, jeans, and a ponytail.
“Good to go for what?” I pipe up, although the woman’s attention has shifted to her clipboard, where she’s now scribbling furiously.
“A special Valentine’s Day segment,” Mindy says, answering my question. “You don’t watchRise and Shine, do you?”
“I think I saw an episode once, when I was home sick with the flu.”
Mindy slides over to grab the handle of my cart. “Don’t worry. This is Samantha, a producer in charge of feature segments. She’s run into—”
“We’ve run into a little snafu with a segment this morning and are hoping you can fill in.”
Samantha says this as if it’s a done deal, as if I’ve already signed on a dotted line I didn’t even know existed two seconds ago.
Confusion, quickly morphing into dread, knots my brow. “Fill in?”
“Yes, you see, we’ve been doing a feature segment each morning this week for Valentine’s Day, and we just got word that one of our guests for today can’t make it. Some sort of allergic reaction. Apparently, she’s covered in hives. Mindy here mentioned that since it’s Thursday, you’d be coming by with a delivery and could possibly fill in.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat the size of a sunflower and croak, “On TV?”
“We use the term ‘On Air,’ but yes.”
I shake my head, picturing my boss’s face when I tell her I’m going to be late to decorate for tomorrow’s multi-million dollar wedding because I’m going to be on tv.
“I’d love to help you out, really, but I’ve got to get these signed for and then be on my way. My boss would kill me if I took even an extra ten minutes with this delivery —especially today. We’ve got a wedding at The Plaza tomorrow with a mother-of-the-bride whose nickname could be Momzilla— not that you heard that from me.”
Samantha waves off my explanation with a flick of her wrist and a chuckle.
